Southern Illinois University
Evansville
Womens Basketball travels to Evansville on Sunday
01/20/2017 | 5:11:00 | Women's Basketball
SIU will try for its third-straight win at the Ford Center Sunday.
The Salukis and the Purple Aces will meet for the 55th time in a series that dates back to 1984. SIU swept Evansville for the first time since the 2011-12 season with a 66-63 win at the Ford Center a year ago. Southern will try to win at the Ford Center for the third-straight season, which the Salukis haven't done since the 1996-98 seasons.
Current Salukis vs. the Purple Aces
Rishonda Napier comes into Sunday's contest averaging 14.4 points, 4.6 assists and 2.8 steals per game in five career meetings against the Purple Aces. The Burbank, Calif. native has dished out six assists in three-straight games against Evansville, all three of which were wins. In four career games against the Purple Aces, Kylie Giebelhausen is shooting 51.6% from the field (16-of-31), including 58.3% (14-of-24) from downtown. She's averaging 11.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game against the Aces.
Scouting the Purple Aces
The Purple Aces have lost four-straight after opening MVC play with back-to-back wins. Evansville, who was picked to finish ninth in the 2016-17 MVC preseason poll, returns Sara Dickey and Camary Williams. Dickey needs just 95 points to become the 8th player in MVC history with 2,000 career points, while Williams could make a run at SIU standout Kasia McClendon's conference record for steals in a season. Williams has a league-best 77 steals and would need 55 steals to pass McClendon, who tallied 131 steals during the 1996-97 season.
Streak Ends
Rishonda Napier missed her first free throw of the season in the win over Wichita State. The miss ends Napier's consecutive free-throws made streak at 33. It's the longest streak in school history, and tied for the ninth-longest in Missouri Valley Conference history. It's also tied for the 41st-longest streak in NCAA DI history.
Threes in bunches
The Salukis made a season-high 13 three-pointers against Wichita State, and followed by netting 10 against the Missouri State Lady Bears on Sunday. SIU has now made 10-plus three-pointers in three-straight games, the longest such streak in program history.
Splash Sisters
Kylie Giebelhausen and Rishonda Napier broke the school-record for three-pointers made by teammates, as the duo made 12 of Southern's 13 three-pointers in the win over Wichita State on Jan. 13. The previous best was 11, set by Christine Presswood (4) and Teri Oliver (7) against Missouri State on Feb. 26, 2010.
School Record for threes in back-to-back games
Kylie Giebelhausen followed up her school-record tying seven three-pointers by making three from behind the arc against Missouri State. While it marked the second time that the East Peoria, Ill. native has made 10 three-pointers over the course of two games, she fell just shy of Napier's school record of 12. Napier made six in each of SIU's wins over Mercer and Morehead State last season.
School Record for three-pointers in back-to-back games
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12 – Rishonda Napier (2015-16 season)
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11 – Cari Hassel (1994-95 season)
            11 – Karrie Redeker (1991-92 season)
Two threes from the top-5
Kylie Giebelhausen needs to make just two from downtown to crack the top-five in school history for three-pointers made. She has made 152 career three-pointers, which is good for sixth all-time. Danette Jones sits in fifth with 153 while Giebelhausen needs just six to pass Karen Powell (1990-94) for fourth, and 10 to pass Karrie Redeker (1988-92) for third.
Climbing up the ranks
Rishonda Napier has made 246 career three-pointers, the most in school history and the 14th-most in Missouri Valley Conference history. If she makes three from behind the arc, she will pass Michelle Nason (WIU/Bradley) for 13th place. With four made three-pointers she can become just the 13th player in MVC history to make 250-plus three-pointers. Dayna Finch of Creighton holds the all-time Valley record, having made 294 3-balls from 2001-04.
Former Running Mates
Napier also moved up to second on SIU's all-time scoring list with 1,552 career points, second only to Cartaesha Macklin's school record of 1,779. She is one of 36 active players in NCAA DI with 1,500-plus career points.
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Points-Assists Double Doubles
Rishonda Napier finished with 18 points and 11 assists in Southern's win over Wichita State, marking the second time this season Napier has recorded a points-assists double-double. She's the first Saluki to record multiple points-assists double-doubles in the same season since Macklin did so during the 2012-13 season.
Coming up on 600
SIU head coach Cindy Stein will coach her 599th career game Sunday at Evansville, the most of any active Valley coach. Missouri State's Kellie Harper is second, having coached 410 career games. Stein's 332 career wins are also the most of any active Valley coach.
Five points shy of 400
Carlie Corrigan needs just five points to score her 400th career point. She will be the 66th Saluki to eclipse the 400 career points plateau, and the 45th Saluki with at least 400 career points and 90-plus assists.
